Shilo terrorist responsible for killing three Palestinians, worked as a driver transporting Palestinians to and from an aluminum factory; Weissgan ate lunch with his victims hours before carrying out the shooting attack

By Shani Mizrachi |Published: 08.17.05 , 22:50

Jewish terrorist Asher Weissgan responsible for Wednesday's shooting attack in which three Palestinians were killed, worked as a driver transporting Palestinian laborers on a daily basis to and from the Ortal factory in Shilo.

Several hours prior to the attack, Weissgan ate lunch with the very people he would later kill.

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Close friend and fellow Shvut Rachel resident Shmuel Ashkenazi told Ynet that it was impossible to have known Weissgan would be capable of committing such a crime.

"After the incident happened he came to my store and said he had killed his brother's laborers," he said. "He is the last person I would believe could do something like that. He had so many Palestinian friends."

He was fully in control of his actions and knew exactly what he was doing, Ashkenazi said.

"He arrived at my store and asked for two things. The first thing he said was, 'make sure they won't harm the guard because I have stolen his gun and the guard is not guilty of anything.' He also requested I take care of his two daughters and then he turned himself in."

Factory Deputy Director-General Ariel Bar-Asher told Ynet there were no prior warnings indicating such an incident.

"Even today, they sat together and ate lunch. Asher was one of the Palestinian workers' closest friends," he said.

'He spoke Arabic'

Fellow coworker Yehoshua Keising said he went home at about 11:30 a.m., but received a phone call right after the incident occurred.

"They told me that Asher shot a worker who sat next to him. I returned to work and found out that it was something much bigger," he said. "I identified the three bodies and I'm still in shock. He spoke Arabic, he was their friend."

"About three weeks ago I was angry at one of the Palestinian workers and I shouted at him," he said. "Asher came to me and said, 'do me a favor, stop criticizing him, he's a good guy.'"

Head of Shilo security Mark Frobizor said he believes Weissgan's actions have endangered the lives of the settlement's residents.

"And this is something that cannot be forgiven, and so I am happy that I did not see him after the incident because it is not clear what would have happened," he said. "Shilo has excellent relations with the neighboring villages - even during the Intifada - and the settlement has always helped anyone who has needed assistance."